ζηλοτυπ[ίᾳ ......] οἰστρηθεισ̃ α: Domestic Violence and Revenge in Sophocles’ Tereus
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Fiona McHardy
Fiona McHardy is Professor of Classics at the University of Roehampton. Her research interests include aspects of gender and violence in ancient Greek literature and culture. She is the author ofRevenge in Athenian Culture (Duckworth, 2008) and co-editor of a number of volumes including with Lesel DawsonRevenge and Gender in Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh, 2018), and with James Robson and David HarveyLost Dramas of Classical Athens (University of Exeter Press, 2005).
Abstract
This chapter examines the violent actions that characterise the plot of Sophocles’ Tereus through the lens of intimate partner violence and domestic abuse. It employs the recently developed concept of “social abuse”, where abusers intentionally isolate victims from social connections to exert control over them, to provide a new interpretation of the violent revenge taken by Procne in the tragedy. The investigation of Procne’s vengeful motivations stems from the analysis of the word zelotypia (often translated as “jealousy”), which is used in reference to Procne’s emotional state in the play’s hypothesis. Rather than seeing zelotypia as jealousy characterised by desire and love, it is understood as a possessive and rivalrous emotion, which is bred from and rearticulates acts of violence. It is argued that Procne’s revenge mirrors the coercive, controlling violence and emotional abuse of her husband, Tereus.
Abstract
This chapter examines the violent actions that characterise the plot of Sophocles’ Tereus through the lens of intimate partner violence and domestic abuse. It employs the recently developed concept of “social abuse”, where abusers intentionally isolate victims from social connections to exert control over them, to provide a new interpretation of the violent revenge taken by Procne in the tragedy. The investigation of Procne’s vengeful motivations stems from the analysis of the word zelotypia (often translated as “jealousy”), which is used in reference to Procne’s emotional state in the play’s hypothesis. Rather than seeing zelotypia as jealousy characterised by desire and love, it is understood as a possessive and rivalrous emotion, which is bred from and rearticulates acts of violence. It is argued that Procne’s revenge mirrors the coercive, controlling violence and emotional abuse of her husband, Tereus.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword VII
- Contents IX
- Introduction 1
- (Re)assembling the Tereus Myth: Vase Painting, Memory, and the Senses 15
- Lamenting about the Wrong Crime: Homer, Sophocles and Demonising the Other 41
- Hunting Tereus: Rubens, Shakespeare, Sophocles 61
- Passion, Knowledge and Truth: Second Thoughts on Sophocles’ Tereus 77
- ζηλοτυπ[ίᾳ ......] οἰστρηθεισ̃ α: Domestic Violence and Revenge in Sophocles’ Tereus 95
- Tereus’ Illicit Penetration(s): A New Reading of Fragment 581 R 115
- The Voice of the Shuttle: The Tereus Myth in Aristophanes’ Birds 131
- Tereus in the Fifth and Fourth Century: From Paratragedy to Mythic Burlesque 153
- The Tereus Myth in Roman Republican Drama 179
- “(In)Human, All Too (In)Human”: Ovid’s Tereus and the Vulnerable Body 191
- Postface 205
- Methodological Appendix: The Orchid and the Wasp — Reading Fragments with Assemblage Theory 223
- List of Contributors 241
- General Index
- Index of Sources
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments
- Foreword VII
- Contents IX
- Introduction 1
- (Re)assembling the Tereus Myth: Vase Painting, Memory, and the Senses 15
- Lamenting about the Wrong Crime: Homer, Sophocles and Demonising the Other 41
- Hunting Tereus: Rubens, Shakespeare, Sophocles 61
- Passion, Knowledge and Truth: Second Thoughts on Sophocles’ Tereus 77
- ζηλοτυπ[ίᾳ ......] οἰστρηθεισ̃ α: Domestic Violence and Revenge in Sophocles’ Tereus 95
- Tereus’ Illicit Penetration(s): A New Reading of Fragment 581 R 115
- The Voice of the Shuttle: The Tereus Myth in Aristophanes’ Birds 131
- Tereus in the Fifth and Fourth Century: From Paratragedy to Mythic Burlesque 153
- The Tereus Myth in Roman Republican Drama 179
- “(In)Human, All Too (In)Human”: Ovid’s Tereus and the Vulnerable Body 191
- Postface 205
- Methodological Appendix: The Orchid and the Wasp — Reading Fragments with Assemblage Theory 223
- List of Contributors 241
- General Index
- Index of Sources
